Chocolate Cheesecake

Hubby gets full credit for this one. Chocolate cheesecake is my favorite dessert, and he surprised me with this on my birthday! He made two whole chocolate cheesecakes by himself, and kept it a secret from me. I was so impressed! This time around, I helped him make it and we contributed it to our family's Thanksgiving dinner. It is so delicious!

Ingredients
1 package Oreos (about 36 cookies)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
8 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 8-oz packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp flour

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

It's time for pumpkin-flavored everything!! I love this time of year, and I'm keeping the tradition of baking pumpkin treats every fall. This is a new recipe I tried this year, and it was super tasty. The original recipe yields two loaves, but one loaf was plenty for my family, so I'm going to share the halved recipe that I used. With a half-recipe, you only use half a can of pumpkin, so I used the other half to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Everything was delicious!

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg (I had none, so this was omitted. It still tasted great)

1 cup sugar

6 tbsp butter

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/2 can of pumpkin

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tbsp chopped pecans (also omitted)

1 tsp sugar

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

I love banana bread! It's (slightly) healthy and still super delicious when you add chocolate chips. This recipe is fantastic. I was able to freeze a few leftovers and munch on them later for a nice, indulgent snack.

I highly recommend freezing bananas! If you notice your bananas are looking super ripe and you don't know if you can bake them in time, peel them and freeze them! Then you don't have to mash them later.

Ingredients
½ cup butter, slightly melted
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, reserve a few for the tops (original recipe calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips, but the muffins taste SO much more moist and delicious with a little more chocolate chips)

Baked Penne

I love pasta dishes, and this one is excellent. It requires a bit of prep, but you can get it done the night before if you prefer and just combine all the ingredients before you bake it.

This recipe calls for two jars of Alfredo sauce, but I ended up doubling my recipe for homemade Alfredo sauce and it was delicious!

Also, please note that this meal serves 9, so if you're cooking for a small group, make sure to half the recipe.

Ingredients

1 box (16 oz) penne pasta

1 tbsp olive oil

2 lb uncooked chicken tenders, cut into chunks

Salt and pepper to taste

1 bag (12 oz) frozen broccoli cuts

2 jars (16 oz each) Alfredo sauce (or double my Alfredo sauce recipe)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 

Restaurant-Style Mashed Potatoes

I have always struggled with making mashed potatoes from scratch. I usually mash the potatoes and mix it with milk and tons of seasoning and it always tastes incredibly bland. So I hunted for a recipe to try, and these potatoes were amazing and super easy to make!

Ingredients
5 red potatoes (about 1.5 lbs)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened

The Best Fudgy Brownies

When we make brownies for dessert, Hubby always suggests we just eat the batter. And I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm really tempted to do that! Sometimes my brownies come out too cakey and not very fudgy.

Well, look no further for fudgy, melty, gooey brownies!! This recipe is the secret to your brownie problems. I attempted this three times to make sure it was perfect because I was determined to get the exact art as shown in the Tasty video, and I did it. It is possible, folks. Let me share my secrets with you.

Ingredients

8 ounces good-quality chocolate

¾ cup butter, melted

1¼ cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

dash of salt

Roast Beef, Funeral Potatoes, Bread Crumb Green Beans

I know I've been quiet lately, and to all of you who read my blog, I apologize! Baby's nighttime sleeping difficulties have gotten out of control, and this sleep-deprived mama barely has time or energy to make a sandwich, let alone find a new recipe to make!

To make it up to you, I have a triple recipe post for today! This was a special meal we were planning around Easter, but due to various circumstances, we didn't get to it until this past week. Hubby helped with this one - he has a talent with the green beans!

I know the funeral potatoes are more of a western thing, but I fell in love with them the first time I had them and I can't stay away from good food, no matter where it's popular!

Chicken and Noodles

So I'm breaking the norm a little bit since this recipe is pretty time-consuming. It also isn't as cheap as my other recipes, but it feeds a lot more, so it evens out.

This is a recipe I attempted to recreate from what my grandmother used to make me and my sisters when we were kids. She loved to work all day to make this meal and feed her constantly hungry grandkids. We could seriously eat this stuff all day (and we did). It was especially important to me that I try to make this exactly like she did. It's been seven years since she passed away, and it made me feel closer to her. 

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
1 package of No Yolks extra broad egg noodles
2 celery stalks
3 carrots
1/4 onion
3 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder